Mage Of Zero
by Bumbling Mage's Apprentice
Summary: A Light mage is pulled from an alternate Earth to Louise's side in Saito's place. Will he put up with a prissy noble? M-rated because of mature concepts. Possible femslash in the future.


Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere was worried. Scratch that she was downright terrified.

Today was the day of the Springtime Summoning Ritual. A day that many an aspiring mage became secure in their birthright as nobility of the land.

Every other student had been successful in their summoning. A full menagerie of magical and mundane beasts now lay scattered about the courtyard. It was time for Louise to add to the horde. Provided she didn't louse this summoning up like she did every other spell she cast. As a number of her onlookers reminded her with scathing remarks.

"Why do you even bother Zero?"

"She shouldn't do this, she might take the whole school with her this time!"

"Go home Zero, save the academy the trouble of expelling you."

She suppressed her anger and shame as the swarm of insults rained down on her while the overseeing teacher Colbert desperately tried to quiet down the crowd, Louise raised her wand and ran through the chant in her head one more time.

'_I refuse to fail again.'_

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><p>"Hold the line!" The white robbed mage shouted as he brought his hands down in the final gesture of a spell. Thousands of beams of light blazed into life and smashed into the defensive enchantments cast over the invading army. Finally bringing down the protective barrier and burning a fair number of skeletal beings to ash.<p>

"The shield is down, hit them with all you have!" Another mage further down the line shouted as he unleashed a wave of fire at a battalion of advancing skeletons. Bursts of fire, shocks of lightening and balls of acid exploded into the enemy ranks, shattering the bony undead and their fleshy Zombie kin.

The ramparts of Quebec saw use once more, giving the collection of wizards a greater field of view as they unleashed magical hell upon the oncoming undead. The walls had been specially reinforced with runes of strength so that they could withstand the return fire from undead driven tanks.

#America had been smashed aside by the undead horde, having no defence against the necromancers who sought to destroy them. Their once proud army now having gathered the last of it's forces behind the great rocky mountains. Desperately fighting and dying to defend the remaining states of the union. The undead horde was stalled in Mexico, beaten back time and again by Tezcatlipoca himself. The god having sworn to defend his ancestral homeland. Even now in Canada, the Mages' Consortium that the kindly Canadians had hosted in their time of strife worked to earn their keep. Unleashing powerful spells against the undead horde and slowly beating back the dead back into the States.#

The white mage rested against the cold stone of the wall he stood upon, having expended most of his energy in that last _Rain of Light*. _The coven of mages had been battling the oncoming undead for three days straight, allowing for very little rest, much less food. The white mage had stood several watches by himself, sustained only by Mana Crystals* and force of will as he fought to buy more time for his magical brethren to sleep a few hours and eat a little before coming back to the fight. But you could only fight for so long with little rest and near constant exertion, and the mage was tiring.

Fortunately, the horde was thinning, no longer was the horde an endless mass of dead flesh. Now the horde was rapidly draining as the Death Knights were cut down by ice shards and barrow wights disintegrated under acid. The tougher undead had enhanced the horde with unholy strength and vigor, but no more. No longer would bones knit and flesh restore as the unwholesome presence of the terrible dead were destroyed. The horde rapidly fell apart with their commanders now mostly dead.

F-16s, carrying the last of a handful of american pilots who'd fled north, flew past the wall and bombarded commandeered american tanks with close range missiles. Destroying the tanks and the monsters that piloted them. The moans of the dead disappeared under explosives and spells.

Then, the dark master of the horde strode forth, one of the necromancers who'd slaughtered millions in their bid for power, and if intel was correct. This particular monster was the one responsible for the Destruction of New York. With a wave of his hand, a roiling bolt of decay flew forth and struck a passing F-16, causing the plane to fall apart in rust in seconds, leaving the decayed husk of it's now dead pilot to smash into the ground at terminal velocity.

With a sigh and a wince, the white mage mounted the wall and lept over, muttering a feather-light spell as he jumped over. landing on the blood stained stone of the ground where not two hours past a horde of zombies had been beaten into the ground by earth elementals. Said elementals lay broken in dozens of pieces under a pile of shattered bones not ten meters from the wall.

The Mage walked out to where his black clad foe stood. Passing mounds of shattered or half burnt bones and melted corpses on his little walk. A ghoul lept out of a nearby pile of bodies, but was easily incinerated by a simple _Lightbolt*. _It was not long before the two mages were staring each other down.

"Was it worth it?" The Mage said as he crushed a Mana Crystal, savoring the influx of energy as it revitalized his drained form. It was his last one, and not nearly powerful enough to restore him to full power, but it would suffice for what he needed to deal with the genocidal fool in front of him.

"What are you talking about you Light-addled fool? Of course it was worth it, I've weakened you to the point where you won't be able to kill me. I think you'll make a fine lich in my service. And won't Canada look lovely with me in charge?" The Necromancer said confidently as he prepared to finish off the Mage in front of him. It was obvious that the other mage was tired even though he couldn't see much outside of the other mage's mouth and lower jaw under his heavy cowl. The White robes that ensconced all of the mage's body except for his mouth looked battered and worn, the runes stitched in gold thread glowing weakly. The Mage was done for.

Or so he thought.

The Mage smirked. "Really, your going to make a lich out of me? Then by all accounts, give it your best shot, I want to see what you can do if you think you can kill me." He said with an amused tone to his otherwise scratchy voice, the result of shouting spells to the heavens for days on end.

"I'LL DESTROY YOU, YOU LIGHT WIELDING WEAKLING!" The necromancer shouted as his fingers waggled through the motions of his most powerful spell. A Sickening cloud of pestilence filtered up from the ground and rushed inward at the Mage in an attempt to starve him of breath. The clouds of necrotic energy roiled around the Mage as they tried to steal his life and replace it with undeath.

The Mage merely grinned.

A blinding nimbus of light formed above the Mage, reverbrating waves of positive energy smashing aside the necrosis. The waves of energy pushed the necromancer back, hammering away at his defensive wards and shattering them one by one. The last of the Necromancer's defenses broke and the man was sent hurtling back into a pile of bones.

The Mage stalked forward, crafting a sword of light as he walked to the slowly recovering Necromancer. Without a single gloating word, the Mage plunged his sword into the Necromancer's chest and discharged all of the construct's energy directly into the man's chest. Disintegrating most of his upper torso.

His task done for the time being, the badly drained Mage swayed on his feet, vision fading in and out.

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><p>Louise had finished most of the pre-requisite chanting, and was finally ready to begin the a flourish, she raised her wand to the sky.<p>

_"My name is Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere._

_My servant that exists somewhere in this vast universe,_

_My divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call,_

_ I wish from very bottom of my heart and add to my guidance and appear"_

With Louise's incantation finished( and many nearby on-lookers already running for cover for when it inevitably fails). An audible thrum filled the air. A green portal swirled into existence.

It was but a moment before a human of all things stumbled through.

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><p>Matthew felt woozy, his robes were already repairing themselves with their inherent magic, but he was tired, so very, very tired. He turned around and began to stumble back towards Quebec.<p>

Only to walk into a green portal, which whisked him far and away from his beloved earth.

* * *

><p>The human that stumbled through was... interesting to say the least. He was clothed head to toe in a beautiful white robe covered in elegant golden runes. The Robe acted as sort of a coat, covering his upper half only to open at about the waist and come to rest behind his legs much in the manner of a cape. His legs were covered in white leggings in much the same material as the robe, it was also inscribed with a number of gold runes. His boots came up to mid calf and were once again white. Although they seemed to be duskier, as if the man had been traveling for awhile, and it had to be a man, no woman had such broad shoulders.<p>

What was strange though was that his face was mostly covered, only revealing a strong jaw and pursed lips.

Louise was extremely disappointed, she'd wanted a dragon, or something else that was just as impressive to get her classmates to stop teasing her. She turned to Professor Colbert.

"Um... Professor, I don't suppose I could try again?" Louise asked even as whispers errupted at her back. The human had gone to one knee, no doubt noticing he was in the company of his betters, one hand bracing himself on the ground.

"I'm afraid not Louise, complete the contract." Colbert said gently while he racked his brain for any hint of a similar occurrence.

Louise softly shook her head and sighed, stepping up to the kneeling commoner.

"Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers, grant your blessings upon this creature and bind it as my familiar." Louise murmered as she tilted the commoner's head back and pressed her lips to his for a brief second. Pulling back, she saw the runes bind to her new familiar's hand.

"And thus, the ceremony is complete, you are all free to go." Professor Colbert said as he dismissed the class, he looked back to Louise as she studied her new familiar, who was even now rising to his feet. He hoped that the girl would be able to improve now that she had a familiar. He could only guess at what was going on inside that poor commoner's head.

* * *

><p><em>'SON OF A BITCH' <em>Matthew thought in outrage as he fell to his knee as soon as he stepped out of the portal. His wobbly limbs hadn't quite solidified yet, so he was only moderately clumsy at this moment.

'_Okay, tune into your senses and find out where you... by the gods, that is a metric fuck-ton of magical energy, judging by the way that energy is trying to resonate with my own depleted reserves, whoever it is is trying to bind themselves to me.'_ Matthew thought as he allowed his mind to slip into a more receptive mode.

The people around him resonated with untapped magical potential, none more so then the pink (PINK?) haired girl standing next to the middle aged man who positively oozed fire magic. They seemed to be speaking in some form of debased french, to the point where it was somewhat understandable, but not enough to communicate without a translator spell in effect. Matthew muttered that spell quickly under his breath to translate whatever language they used... only to be almost overwhelmed by insulting words and condescending tones. Something along the lines of...

"Wow, and I thought she was bad before, but paying a commoner to act as her familiar? That's just pathetic."

"Louise the zero, can't even summon a proper familiar."

"She should just stop trying, worthless little girl was born to the wrong family."

It wasn't that terrible compared to what you would hear in Matthew's home town, but it was still insulting. Especially when they started throwing "commoner" and "Actor" around. Matthew was certainly anything but common.

The girl who'd summoned him (Honestly, not the weirdest thing that'd happened to him) walked up and said something that sounded an awful lot like a binding rite. As Matthew was about to speak up, she lifted his head and pressed her lips to his for a moment. Setting off a burning sensation in his hand. Looking down at his hand, he saw a set of runes bind themselves to his hand.

_Intriguing, these almost look like nordic rune magic. They lack a lot of the power they should have. After all, who'd ever waste the time to runecraft if your rune was only an easily suppressed compulsion spell?_

Then again, if he didn't use magic, it would be damn near impossible for Matthew to resist the spell.

His new master, as the runes identified her. Began to speak up.

"Can you walk Familiar?" Mistress asked with the barest hint of concern.

"Yes Ma'am. Might I ask your name?" Matthew asked scratchily. His voice still recovering from it's extreme overuse.

"... I am Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Valliere. Third Daughter of the Duke Valliere." Louise answered, slightly perturbed at his question. "Come along Familiar."

_Might as well play up the obedient servant until I find a way home. I'd rather not stir up any trouble with a sovereign and obviously magical nation. _Matthew thought as he set off after the fast-moving sorceress. Though he did wonder why she was the only one walking. Most of the other Sorcerers were levitating away. While impressive, the magical feat in itself was a basic cantrip for any air mage and easily learnt by any mage learning spells outside their main discipline*. So why was Louise not levitating?

* * *

><p><em>*Codex Arcana<em>

_Magic is divided into the various elements of the world. One of the four basic elements must be mastered before any mage can be considered an accomplished magic user. After the basic element is mastered. A mage can then choose to specialize in one of the more esoteric studies called a discipline. These disciplines include, but are not limited to, Nature, Light, Shadow, Summoning, Acid, Time, and many more._

_Spells are divided up by their element and power level into a series of ranks, numbering from one to nine. Lightbolt is an example of a Rank one Light spell. Lightbolt causes a bolt of condensed Radiance to lash out against ones foe, but is easily countered by a screen of light. Rain of Light is an example of a Rank nine Light spell. This catastrophic spell has the capability to destroy entire cities as it unleashes thousands of Lightbolts at a targeted area, when focused on one spot, the spell eradicates everything occupying that spot._

_A spell's power is only matched by a Magic user's Mana. Mana, also known as Spirit, is the mystical energy that binds the soul to the mortal coil. It has the side effect of being used as an energy source for magic. A mage's Mana will increase as the mage uses it, but if the mage tries to cast a spell that has a mana requirement higher then a mage's available mana. The Mage will be stripped of his mana in the spell's casting, killing him as the soul will no longer be bound to the body._

_Methods of sustaining casting over a long period of time include forming mana crystals, which serve as batteries to hold mana until a mage needs it, and Soul Drain, which draws mana from other beings to cast spells. Mana crystals are used by all mages as they are simple to make and not harmful to the user as they draw a set amount of mana from the user, usually anywhere from one half to one tenth of a mage's mana. The upside of this is that a mana crystal from a rank nine mage can power a rank one for several days of magical combat, or allow the Rank one to cast at roughly the same level as a rank five for a short time before the crystal is exhausted. Crushing a mana crystal confers all of the crystal's energy in one burst, serving as a good way to refresh a mage exhausted from combat, this can kill a mage who does not have the capability to hold all the energy within a higher rank crystal._

_Soul Draining is a method just as useful as using Mana crystals to supplement your casting ability. But it has ethical problems attached to it. There have been a number of times in the past where a rouge mage has killed a fair number of people by draining their mana entirely to fuel his own endeavours. The worst case of this being the destruction of New York during the Necromancer war. In which a powerful necromancer stripped the city of life in exchange for the power to subsequently raise the new dead as ghouls to form the base of his army. The only survivors of this catastrophe being the few mages in the city at the time and what few regular people they could protect from Draining._

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><p><span><strong>Do review if you like the concept.<strong>


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